TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) – Kansas will allow public schools and colleges to arm employees with concealed guns and loosen restrictions on carrying concealed weapons into public buildings, starting in July.

Gov. Sam Brownback signed the concealed carry legislation into law Tuesday.

State Sen. Forrest Knox said Wednesday that it sends a message that Kansas trusts law-abiding citizens to carry concealed guns. The Altoona Republican was a leading advocate of the measure.

The new law says that state agencies, local governments, state universities and state colleges couldn’t prevent people with state permits from bringing concealed guns into their buildings after 2017.

Also, the law allows local school boards, university presidents and college boards to designate individual employees who can carry concealed weapons in their buildings, whatever their policies for the general public.

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